Music
Chinese people love music and you'll often hear funky, dance tunes blasting across public squares in the evenings with a small platoon of dancing old women (the notorious 'dancing ayi'). Shops play music filling the streets and the annual CCTV1 Spring Festival Gala TV Slow is song and dance after song and dance for hours on end.
In general, romantic, love songs largely dominate the Chinese music landscape. These songs litter music stores and TV channels. There isn't as much rock music around these days but does exist and there is a sizeable influence of Korean love and American, as well as Chinese, ‘R&B’ music. They love the superstars, like Taylor Swift, and when their concerts are held, it's a national frenzy to head there. It's quite normal for every city to hold numerous mega-concerts that fill up stadiums, but these are usually home-grown stars. In recent years, there has also been a surge in Britpop style neo-punk.
In bars, you'll often find a guitarist or small band entertaining the crowd. In nightclubs, expect full-on DJ sessions. In fact, DJs are now a big thing in China and huge outdoor concerts are sometimes held with a mix of foreign and local DJs. It's well worth attending these as they're normally a great day out. Try going a search online to find, and add to your phone apps (or just use Wechat 'Discover' option to type in relevant keywords) to join local groups and get more info on upcoming events in the city you're in.
Most Chinese are unfamiliar with historic, classic world famous artists such as the Rolling Stones, ABBA, The Beatles or Queen, yet you’ll be able to hear their music in TV commercials. But you youth of China seem to be more aware of these classic tunes. In recent years, Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up' totally dominated youth music culture and every Christmas the hits are adored (think Last Christmas). It would though, be fair to say, that rather than listen to music, Chinese prefer to sing it themselves!
Check out the section on "KTV" (Karaoke). It's a must-do when in China.
